Cattle guard



H. F. McLEY.

CATTLE GUARD.

C q m APPLICATION FILED OCT- 6. 1921.

Patented Oct. 31, 119221 2 SHEETS-SHEET H. F. McLEY.

CATTLE GUAR D. APPLICATION FILED OCT-6.192!- Pafmted Oct. 31, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented on. 31, i922.

HENRY FRANKLIN IVICLEY, OF PATTONSBURG, IVIISSOUEI.

CATTLE GUARD;

Application filed Gotober 6, 1921.

To (1M Q/J/LUHL it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY FRANKLIN .idcLnY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Pattonsburg, in the county of Da- \iess, State ofMissouri, have invented a new and useful Cattle Guard; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to cattle guards and. has for its object toprovide transversely disposed spaced gates adapted to be placed at eachside of a railroad crossing and so a constructed and controlled thatwhen a train is going in either direction, said gates will besimultaneously raised, and after the train has passed the crossing saidgates will be simultaneously lowered for barring access up and down thetrack.

A further object is to provide a gate actuating mechanism for swingingto a sub stantially vertical position a gate pivoted adjacent the sideof a railroad track, said mechanism comprising a pivoted upwardlyextending bar disposed to the rear of the pivotal point of the gate andhaving its upper end connected to the gate by means of a link. Also toprovide a downwardly and rearwardly extending bar having its upper end.pivotally connected to the upper end of the vertically disposed pivotedmember, and having its lower end terminating in a bifurcation whicharches a guide member having a slot in its lower side. Disposed withinits guide member is a longitudinally movable bar, to which the arms ofthe bifurcation are pivoted, and to provide train actuated cable meansfor moving the bar within the guide longitudinally for raising andlowering the pivoted. gate.

A further objectis to provide in connection with the gate and itsoperating mech anism semaphore arms which arms are tuated tosubstantially horizontal positions when the gate is lowered and tosubstantially vertical positions when the gate is in raised position. 1

With the above and. other objects in view the invention resides in thecombination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown inthe drawings, described and claimed, it being understood that changes inthe precise embodiment of the invention Serial No. 505,839.

may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

l igure 1 is a top plan view of the cattle guard showing the same innormal position.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through a casing locatedadjacent the track and showing partially in elevation and par tially insection the cattle gate actuating 1n echani sin.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1. designates a railroad trackand 2 a road crossing. Secured to cross ties 3 at each side of thecrossing 2 are upwardly extending brackets i, to the upper ends of whichare pivoted at 5 gate carrying brackets 6. The brackets 6 are providedwith diverging arms 7 which are secured at 8 to the gates 9, which gatesextend across the track 2 and. normally rest on the rails 10 and preventcattle from turning up or down the track 1 thereby obviating'the dangerincident to a train hitting an animal and at the same time reducingclaims for damages against railroads for cattle to a minimum, whichcattle have been killed on the railroad.

Extending upwardly from the crossties 3 adjacent their rear ends andoutwardly disposed in relation to the brackets 4 are substantiallyvertically disposed bars 11. The lower ends of the bars 11 are pivotallyconnected as at 12 while their upper ends are pivotally connected at 13to links 14: which extend downwardly in the direction of the railroad 1and have their ends pivotally connected at 15 to the gates 9 at pointssubstantially in alignment horizontally with the pivotal. points 5,thereby so positioning the pivotal points 15 in relation to the pivotal.points that when the l' l' l' are "its moved in the direction of arrow0;, the gates will be pivoted upwardly on their pivotal point forallowing a train to pass, said gates being actuated by the train throughthe medium of mechanism hereinafter set forth. Also pivotally connectedat 13 are downwardly and rearwardly extending connecting bars 16, thelower ends of which terminate in bifurcations 17, the arms of which aredesignated by the numeral 18, and one said arms is disposedoneach sideof a transversely and horizontally disposed guide casing 19. Disposed inthe guide casings are guides 20, to which guides the arms 18 of thelinks 16 are pivotally connected at 21. It will be seen that when theguides 20 are moved longitudinally in the casii'igs l?) the links llwill be moved in directions whereby the gates will be sinmltaneouslyraised or lowered.

Disposed adjacent each gate is a signal post 22, which signal posts havepivoted thereto at 23 semaphore signals Ql, which signals when the gatesare in horizontal position are horizontally disposed, and when the gatesare in raised positions are substantially vertically disposed. saidsemaphores being actuated through the medium of connecting rods 25, oneend of which is pivotally connected as at 26 to an arm 27 of eachsemaphore and the other end pivotally connected at 9.8 to an arm 29 ofeach bracket 6. If so desired an electric nal 30 may be placed on. thesignal posts 22 and serving as means tor illuminating the semaphore arm941-. as a signal. itself. The casings 19 are supported by spaced posts31 one of said posts at each side Off E110 crossing forming a signalpost. to which posts are pivotally connected at 32 semaphores to thearms 34: of which connecting rods 35 are pivotally connected at 36. Theconnecting rods have their other ends pivoted at 13, therefore it willbe seen that when the gates 9 are in lowered positions, the semaphoreswill be disposed substantially horizontally as shown in Figure 3,however when the gates are openech that in a raised position thesemaphores will be lowered thereby signalling approaching trains orapproaching persons that the gates have been raised by an approachingtrain. lVhen semaphores 24 and are in normal position as shown in Figure3,' they will indicate to persons approaching that cattle guards aredown and that a train has not operated the gates.

Disposed on each side of the crossing 2 and preferably at points remotefrom said crossing are tracks :17, which are parallel to the railroadtrack 1 and have mounted tl'iereon trave s 38. which travelers aresupported on wheels 39 and are adapted to he 'ni'oved'by a, project Jercarried by the train. lflach tr 'veler 38 comprises 2 cas ng all) havingpivoted therein at 4.0 a

vertically disposed weighted pivot-ed lever 4 1 adapted to be eiigagedby a. retractible -project-ion S8 carried by the train for moving thetrave ler 38 in parallel relation to the track. lllhetravelers 38have'connected to their ends cables 42, which cables extend over pulleys43 and over guide pulleys 4st and are crossed at 45. It will be seenthat when the projection S8 carried by a train engages the pivotedmember 41, said travapply thereto. 1

clers 38 will be moved. inwardly towards each other, thereby impartingsimultaneous outward pulls on the cables 45. The cables 45 extend overpulleys 6 and are connected to the cables l2 as at 4:7, thus it will. beseen that the cables l5 which are connected at 4:8 to guide members 20when simultaneously pulled outwardly will simultaneously raise the gates9. The gates 9 will be held in open position by passing beyond avertical position and limited in their outward movement by theconnecting rods During the outward pull on the cables l5 the cables willmove inwardly toward each; other. and as said cables pass over pulleys51 and 52 and have their ends secured as at 53 to the forward ends ofthe guides 20, sufficient slack will be supplied for allowing move mentof the guides 20. As the train continues in the direction of the arrowZ), the traveler 38 will be moved in the same direction. hen thetraveler 38 reaches the end of its movement it is auton'iaticallyreleased by means oi. the U-shaped member 54: which comes intoengagement with one of the spring actuated bumpers 55 thereby rockingthe bell crank lever 56, and moving the pivoted bell crank 57 out ofcooperative engagement with the notch 58 in the lever fl-l through themedium of the connecting rod 59, said connecting rod 59 being normallyforced upwardly by means of the pivoted weights 60. Itwill be seen thatwhen the U-shaped member 54 is forced into engagement with the springactuated bumper .55, that the lever 4-1 will be released, therebyallowing the weighted lever 41 to tilt sutliciently for the member 3Scarried by the train to pass. After the train has passed the crossingthe projections 38 come into engagement with the weighted leverilcarricd by the traveler 38 onthe opposite side of the crossing andmoves said traveler in a direction away from the crossing until theweighted lever ell is released for allow- .ing the projections 38 topass. This operatron. restores the gates to their normal .positionsacross the tracks. The weighted levers 41 are normally maintained invertical position by their lower weigl'ited ends. therefore-they normal}y return after each operavi-ded with reverse'ly positioned levertripping mechanism and that the same numerals duplication of mechanismforms means whereby the gates may zbe operatedby a train traveling inthe opposite direction. to that described above.

From the above it will'be seenthat-a train i gates will be operated nomatter which way the trains are traveling.

The invention having been set forth what is claimed as new and useful is1.. A cattle guard comprising spaced gates, said gates having one oftheir ends pivotally mounted to one side of a railroad track, a linlchaving one of its ends pivoted to the gate adjacent its pivotal point,said link extending upwardly and outwardly, a vertically disposedpivoted bar having its upper end pivotally connected to the rear end ofthe u onva-rdly and outwardly extending link, a horizontally disposedguide located rearwardly ol the vertically disposed pivoted bar, a guidemember slidably mounted. in' said guide a downwardly and outwardlyextending bar having its upper end pivotally connected to the upper endof the vertically disposed pivoted bar and its lower end pivotallyconneotedto the guide member, and cable moans actuated by a train :tormoving said guide "for raising and lowering said gates,

2. The combination with a pair of spaced cattle guard gates pivoted toswing in a vertical plane and having theirpivotal points disposed to oneside of a railroad track, of a train actuated operating mechanism forraising and lowering said gates, said mechanism comprising travelersdisposed to each side of the gates, crossed cable connections betweenthe travelers and the gates and forming means in connection with alignedcables for raising the gates when the traveler is moved by a traincables for return- .ing said gates to normal position when the train haspassed the gates and engage the traveler, levers carried by thetravelers and adapted to be engaged by a projection carried by thetrain. and a tripping mechanism for releasing said levers at the end ofthe gate actuating operations.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY FRANKLIN MCLEY.

itnesses CLAUDE E. Yamsnonen, FRANCTS L. READ.

